Mad Men

You could have an Old Fashioned or a Gin Martini, but why not get a little crazy this time? The show is set in the 1960s, when people wore lime green dresses and plaid dinner jackets, ate psychedelic Jell-O molds, and talked to each other on pink telephones. Next time you settle in to watch Mad Men, try a very colorful Blue Hawaiian (from Season 4, Episode 3, when Joan makes her fiancé a Hawaiian-themed dinner):

Blue Hawaiian
1 ounce blue curaçao
1 ounce light rum
1 ounce cream of coconut
2 ounces pineapple juice
1 cherry
1 slice of pineapple
1 cup of ice

Blend all ingredients in a blender. Pour into highball glass over ice. Add a cherry and pineapple to garnish.

If blue isn’t your thing, try a Sidecar, a colorful classic that is sweet, sour and strong.

Breaking Bad

Put away the vodka and gin. You’ll need a drink that can really stand up to this show, something closer to a slap in the face, a punch in the gut. You need some mezcal. This Mexican hooch is the smoky cousin to tequila, and Mexicans often sip it neat. If you’re not up for the campfire kick on its own, use mezcal in an Old Fashioned instead.

Mezcal Old Fashioned
(Recipe by James Hensley)
2 ounces of añejo (aged) mezcal
1/4 ounce agave nectar (or simple syrup)
1 dash of Angostura bitters (or try grapefruit or chocolate bitters)

Combine in a mixing glass, add ice, and stir. Strain into a rocks glass, and garnish with a grapefruit twist.

The Voice

For some reason, I can’t stop watching The Voice. I might have even tried to sing along once or twice when nobody else was in the room…maybe. If you want to be old school, you could drink a Cosmo while you’re watching (and not singing along — seriously, I wasn’t), but something with a bit more glitz would really be better. Meet the Fleur de Lis. It’s fruity, sparkly and not too sweet (because the ballads are sweet enough).

Fleur de Lis
1 ounce Raspberry Vodka
1/2 ounce Orange Liqueur
Fill with Champagne

Combine spirits in a mixing glass, and fill with ice. Shake, and strain into a Champagne flute. Garnish with raspberries.

Game of Thrones

“Winter is coming,” so grab your sword (probably named Horsefang or Icepick) and fur cape, mount your trusty steed, and ride out to meet your enemies in battle! Or sit on the couch with a cocktail and watch medieval-looking people do that on TV instead. But don’t think that just because you aren’t on horseback that you can remain neutral in this power struggle. Pick a House and cocktail, then boo and hiss when your enemies appear on the screen.

Baratheon: Shot of Irish whiskey — Subtlety isn’t really a Baratheon trait. These guys don’t mess around with mixers or garnishes.
Greyjoy: Pickle Back — It’s briny and strong. It comes out of nowhere and kicks you in the ass.
Lannister: Abby Cocktail — It’s golden and delicious, seemingly innocent. Until you have another…and another.
Stark: Vodka Martini — It’s chilly in the North, and the Starks like it that way. Don’t expect them to sugarcoat anything either.
Targaryen: Black Widow — Daenerys is set on repaying the wrongs done to her family, and like the cocktail, growing more powerful by the minute.

Smash

Everyone is looking for their big break in this show, a chance to be just like Marilyn. So in honor of being just like Marilyn, show us your most glowing and innocent smile and settle in with a cocktail inspired by the starlet’s adoration of champagne.

Marilyn Monroe Champagne Cocktail
4 ounces Champagne or Sparkling Wine
1 ounce Apple Brandy
1 tsp. Grenadine

Men, if you’d prefer to forgo the pink, sparkly drinks, have a Whiskey Sour, inspired by The Seven Year Itch. Main character Richard Sherman is on holiday without his family, and tells his secretary (because everyone had a personal secretary back then): “I’m perfectly capable of fixing my own breakfast. As a matter of fact, I had a peanut butter sandwich and two Whisky Sours.”

Irish whiskey is the fastest growing spirit category in the United States, perhaps in part because of a friendship between pickle maker Bob McClure and the owner of Brooklyn’s Bushwick Country Club John Roberts — and a little lady who walked into his bar in 2006. She wanted a shot of the pickle brine that she saw in the bar, which had been gifted to Roberts by McClure for storing pickles in his basement. The bartender, Reggie Cunningham, was disgusted (maybe more so because he was hungover that day) by her request to drink straight pickle juice, so he made her a deal: They’d both take a shot of Old Crow Bourbon, and she could have the pickle brine thereafter.

Reggie was on to something. Believe it or not, whiskey chased with pickle brine is surprisingly refreshing.

Jameson Irish Whiskey in particular has a woody sweetness that, when combined with salty pickle flavor, leaves savory, long-lasting flavor. In the Pickle Back’s inaugural days, George and Justin Ruotolo, Bushwick regulars and owners of New York’s Whiskey Town, requested Jameson with their Pickle Backs. By the time these shots were popular enough to make headlines, Jameson had become the standard Pickle Back order. In general, though, the salt and savory vinegar flavors of the brine are the perfect follow up for any Irish whiskey, which tends to be sweeter than most other whiskeys.

“Something about the brininess of the pickles compliments Irish whiskey particularly,” says Sean Kenyon, the co-owner and bartender at Williams & Graham in Denver. “I don’t think it works with much else in the whiskey category, but Irish whiskeys tend to be a little bit on the sweeter and lighter side, and Pickle Back compliments rather than erases [that sweetness].”

When I ask for my first-ever Pickle Back shot, Kenyon pulls out a vat of house-made pickle brine and asks if I like pickles. Definitely. “That’s good,” he says, “It’s really vinegar-y. You have to have that taste.”

I take my shot of Powers Irish Whiskey (Williams & Graham prefers Powers to Jameson) and sling back the brine. I’m expecting the mouthful of brackish residue that I experienced after several failed attempts of surfing lessons, but what I’m actually left with is a pleasant, sweet/savory flavor on my tongue. Reggie really was on to something. I’m converted right then and there.

Kenyon goes on to tell me that not all Pickle Back experiences are this satisfying. He says crucial to the success of a Pickle Back is “dill-y, zesty, kosher, vinegar pickling.”

“I went to a place where they were using bread-and-butter pickle brine,” he says, his expression quickly transforming from enthusiasm to repulsion. “The bread-and-butter pickle almost made me hurl on somebody. And I can handle my booze.”

If you’re trying a Pickle Back for the first time (or for the hundredth time, for that matter) make sure you order an Irish whiskey and a salty, vinegar brine. Even if you don’t love the taste of dill pickles or of sweet whiskey, the combination of the two is some kind of wonderful. Rumor has it, too, that it might reduce your post St. Patty’s hangover.

“I’m not a doctor,” admits Kenyon, “But I know that when people are dehydrated, [doctors] give them pickle juice. Because alcohol dehydrates you, and pickle juice hydrates, maybe you’re finding a good balance.”

Hangover or not, the combination of Irish whiskey and pickle brine strikes a nice balance of flavors. Even if you hate it, you can at least say that you’ve tried it. And you might even become a convert like me.